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USPS pilots a public banking program
- readflaggedcomm 5y agoOther articles* mention fees: $5.95 to cash checks up to $500. That's more than my local-chain grocery store's service counter. * https://prospect.org/economy/usps-begins-postal-banking-pilot-program/ https://prospect.org/economy/usps-begins-postal-banking-pilo...
- alisonkisk 5y agoNot everyone lives near your grocery store. Credit cards and paypal charge 3%
- wcfields 5y agoSo they’re trying to kill it before it even gets off the ground.
- adenadel 5y agoIf you're not a customer of a bank and you come to cash a check (that isn't drawn on that bank) then you are going to pay a fee (if they will even cash it). I assume check cashing businesses charge a similar fee. It would be great in principle if the USPS could cash checks for free, but they are also taking on the risk of the check being bad.
- toomuchtodo 5y agoTremendous news. With the USPS’ reach and government banking, they’re strategically positioned to provide banking services to the unbanked and underbanked, especially in more rural areas that aren’t profitable enough for banks or credit unions to maintain outposts. While the gift cards offered as a value store are suboptimal, there is a path to deposit accounts (and instant payments are around the corner). Progress!
- missedthecue 5y agoCan you give me an example of one community in the entire US with a postal service but not a bank? Not to mention neobanks. All you need is a $100 smartphone for that.
- toomuchtodo 5y agohttps://www.fastcompany.com/90683033/the-post-office-is-finally-going-to-try-out-being-a-bank https://www.fastcompany.com/90683033/the-post-office-is-fina... “According to a 2019 report by the Federal Reserve, 22% of American adults, or 63 million, are either “unbanked” or “underbanked,” meaning they don’t have easy access to a financial institution to do things like cash checks or save money.” “At the same time, millions of people who live in “bank deserts” are in need of banking access. Post offices seem like an apt solution: 59% of them are in zip codes that have no banks at all.” And smartphones as a requirement for neobanks or online only banks is an equity issue. Not everyone can afford a smartphone, even one as inexpensive as $100. A debit card can be issued for a few dollars, and postal workers are already working the retail counter.
- orwin 5y agoAnd in some places in WV, not even talking about edge, even getting phone signal is hard (i'm not complaining, great place to take some vacations). I'd be surprised if even 1/5 of people in those remote communities have internet with their phone.
- pyuser583 5y agoAnd these are places that have Post Offices?
- toomuchtodo 5y agoCorrect. There are 31k US post offices across the US, so roughly 18,300 post offices where there are no banks. Makes sense to extend some operating procedures and point of sale systems to offer banking services at that scale.
- cbhl 5y agoExtremely early days -- the pilot runs at four post offices (one in each of the four cities), and AFAICT it converts a single check into a single prepaid debit card (no reloading, yet). Hopefully it reduces some of the need for check cashing places and the like, but definitely a ways out from serving historically under-banked communities.
- kaminar 5y agoWith the lax security compared to check cashing stores, thieves are gonna be happy. If they can fix that issue, good deal...check cashing stores are popular FOR A REASON. a lot of poor folks and small businesses DO NOT TRUST BANKS.